All-20th Century Program Saturday

March 1, 2012

On Saturday, the SUNY Fredonia College Symphony Orchestra will present an All 20th-Century Program under the direction of Dr. David Rudge. The concert opens with the Overture to Colas Breugnon by Soviet composer Dimitri Kabalev-sky, conducted by Andre Lousada. Penderecki's De Natura Sonoris No. 1, is a hair-raising piece that was used in the film "The Shining," and Stravinsky's dramatic Symphony in 3 Movements completes the first half of the concert.

The second half of the concert departs from the usual symphony orchestra format for a multimedia performance of The Planets by Gustav Holst. The most inventive and famous of all his scores, the piece was inspired by Holst's interest in astrology. Audiences will view High Definition photography from NASA along with images depicting the astrological symbolism of the planets projected on a large screen above the orchestra, as was the composer's intention when writing the piece. This seven-part composition depicts the characters of each planet: Mars, the bringer of War; Venus, the bringer of Peace; Mercury, the Winged Messenger; Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity; Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age; Uranus, the Magician; and Neptune, the Mystic. Even upon first hearing The Planets, audiences will likely be met with a strong sense of familiarity, as this is one of the most quoted and plagiarized scores of the 20th century.

Dr. David Rudge serves as the Director of the College Symphony Orch-estra and Director of the Opera Orchestra at the State University of New York at Fredonia. Additionally, he is Music Director of the Orchard Park Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted orchestras on five continents to rave reviews. As Director of the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Guatemala he was credited with the dramatic rebirth of that orchestra. Described as "dynamic" and "electric," Guatemala's Prensa Libre wrote, "It has been many years since we have heard a symphony orchestra play with such inspiration." Dr. Rudge founded the Eastminster Chamber Orchestra, and was Assistant Conductor of the University of South Carolina Symphony Orch-estra, the Columbia Lyric Opera and Ballet, and the South Carolina Philhar-monic. During that time he was noted for his "Bern-stein-like intensity" by The State, Columbia, S.C. He was chosen several times to prepare the Beethoven Chamber Orchestra for the International Workshop for Conductors in the Czech Republic. He has guest conducted the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra and, as a two-time winner of the International Opera Con-ductors' Competition, he was invited to conduct a complete production of Rigoletto at the Silesian State Opera in the Czech Republic, and to lead the Vratza Philharmonic in Bulgaria.

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In 1996, as an Artistic Ambassador for the State Department, he spent two months in Damascus, Syria conducting the National Symphony and Chamber Orchestra.

He has conducted the Opera and Orchestra at the Rome Festival, Italy, and has guest conducted the Dialecto Urbano Chorus, Caracas, Venezuela, the Oklahoma City Philhar-monic, with Jean-Luc Ponty as soloist, the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, and the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra.

Holding degrees from the Hartt School of Music, the University of Houston, and the University of South Carolina, Dr. Rudge has also studied conducting at the Dartington School, England, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Pierre Monteux School, the Aspen Music Festival, the National Conservatory of Romania, and with such notables as Charles Bruck, Max Rudolf, Gunther Schuller, and Maurice Abravanel. Violin study was with Yumi Ninomiya, Jascha Brodsky, Renato Bonacini, and Fre-dell Lack.

Chamber music coaching has been with members of the Curtis, Cleveland, Kolisch, Amadeus, Port-land, Razumovsky and Emerson String Quartets. Dr. Rudge has taught at Oklahoma State University, the University of South Carolina, Colby College, and the Hartt School of Music; at the Conservatorio Nacional, Guatemala; the Higher Institute of Music, Damascus, Syria; the Omega Institute of Holistic Studies, New York; and was a guest conductor at the Friedman School, Caracas, Venezuela. He has been coach and guest conductor of the Boston, Columbia, Houston and Costa Rican Youth Orchestras, as well as many student honor-orchestras.

At SUNY Fredonia he teaches one of the country's few non-jazz Free Improvi-sation courses. Dr. Rudge has played as both a violinist and violist with the Oklahoma City Philhar-monic, the Tulsa Philhar-monic, the Orquesta Sin-fonica Venezuela, the Charleston Symphony, the Portland Symphony, and the Houston Grand Opera. He was the first violinist of the Andrea String Quartet, and was invited to perform with the Portland String Quartet in its 25th Anniversary concert.